Monday, 2 March 2009

Renaming a Domino Database with the Server Up

Looking to solve an issue where 3 different versions of the same database (dev, beta and production) had different names, I went looking for a way to fix it without shutting the server down (and losing sleep).

“If the server cannot be shut down, it is possible to rename the OS file name with the server up if there are no external third-party software factors to consider. Keep in mind that a server task acting on the database can create a database handle and not allow you to rename the file. To prevent this from occurring:

1. Let the user know you are going to rename their database and instruct them to exit their Lotus Notes® client. (Also, ensure that the database is not open by anyone else.)2. Shut down the Domino Router by issuing tell router quit at the server console.3. Issue the command drop database mailfilename.nsf4. Make sure replication/cluster replication is not occurring.5. Issue the command dbcache flush6. Rename the database on the file system.7. Update the Person document "Mail File" field to the new file name of the mail file.8. Restart the Router task by issuing "load router" at the server console.9. Make sure the end user's Location document is also updated with the new file name. (Location document -> Mail Tab -> "Mail file" field).”